Javid Ahmad Mir
School
of Social Sciences, Devi-Ahilya University Indore (MP).
ABSTRACT
India
is a land of religions, languages and customs. Many religions are flourishing
here since long back, which have their own traditions and beliefs. Therefore
India is a multi religious and multi cultural country from its known history.
It was never mono-religious or mono-cultural. In view
of the intrusion of religious passions and caste loyalties into politics one may
ask whether India is a truly secular or a theocratic state. Indian society is like a mighty river fed
with many tributaries and the main stream flows on and on. Hence, Indian
society is very rich, and well known for wisdom and great thoughts. Secularism
is an important aspect of Indian society, for which it is also well-known in
the world. The present paper sheds the light on Secularism in India, its
objectives and challenges in the context of India.
Key
Words- Secularism, Origin, Challenges.
INTRODUCTION
The discrimination of one
community or its members by another community or its members on account of
their religious identity are the instances of religious persecution and they
reflect inter- religious domination.
Secularism is the first and foremost doctrine that opposes all such forms of inter-
religious domination. Separation, loss and sufferings are endemic to the human
condition, while large part of our suffering is man-made and hence eliminable;
at least some of our suffering is not manmade. Religion, art and philosophy are
responses to such sufferings. Secularism too accepts this and therefore it is
not anti-religious. Religion has its own share of some deep-rooted problems. In
religions such as Hinduism, some sections have been persistently discriminated.
For example- Dalits have been barred from entering Hindu temples. In some part
Hindu women cannot enter temples. When religion is organized, it is frequently
taken over by its most conservative faction, which does not tolerate any dissent.
Religious fundamentalism in parts of US has become a big problem and endangers
peace both within country and outside. Many religions are fragmented into
sects, which leads to frequent sectarian violence and persecution of dissenting
minorities. This religious domination is known as inter- religious domination.
As Secularism is opposed to all forms of institutionalized religious
domination, it challenges not merely interreligious
domination but intra-religious dominations. It
(Secularism) promotes freedom within religions and promotes equality between,
as well as within religions.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Mahmood Tahir, (2011) “Religion
and the Secular State: Indian Perspective”
India is a unique State, believing in secularism and yet preserving its
spirituality through constitutional provisions, legislation, State policy and
judicial pronouncements. Maintaining a rational balance between secularity and
religiosity, accommodating religious sensitivities of the people to a
reasonable extent, avoiding religion-based discrimination among the citizens as
far as possible, and endeavoring to put them on a par regardless of religious
affiliation, are the basic features of religion-state relations in India. God
and Caesar both have a place under the constitutional and legal set up of the
country, but the scope of “what belongs to God” remains wider in India than in
most other professedly secular societies.
Lalu Dyavappa and Rathod P.B (2014) “Secularism
and Indian Constitution: An Overview” They tried to show
the secularism and Indian constitution which is very necessary to build
peaceful society. The study has included about the discussion of secularism and
how it acts according to the Indian constitution. The constitution of India has
adopted secularism under the article 25th to 28th, here nobody has right to
declare their religion as national religion because, India is basically secular
state therefore, all religion is treated as equal. They concluded that India
has been declared a secular state by its written constitution and it is every
Indians duty to stand by and believe in this declaration. In the end,
secularism begins in the heart of every individual. There should be no feeling
of "otherness" as we all have is a shared history. India being a
traditional society that contains not one, but many traditions owing their
origin in part to the different religions that exist here has so far managed to
retain the secular character of its polity. Lastly, the secularism was not
included in the constitution of India, but, later on it was adopted by 42nd
amendment in 1976in the preamble.
Ali, M.D Musa (2015) “Secularism in India: Concepts, Historical
Prospects and Challenges” India
is a land of religions, languages and customs. Many religions are flourishing
here since long back, which have their own traditions and beliefs. Therefore
India is a multi religious and multi cultural country from its known history.
The author concluded that the Indian
society is very rich, and well known for wisdom and great thoughts. Secularism
is an important aspect of Indian society, for which it is also well-known in
the world.
Objectives
of the Study
v
To study the origin and the objectives of
Secularism in India.
v
To study the challenges faced by Secularism in
India.
Research
Methodology
Research simply means search for facts,
answer to the questions and solutions to problem. Research becomes a
systematic, controlled and critical investigation of hypothetical pre questions.
In the proposed study secondary sources have been used, Secondary data have
been collected from various books, research papers and articles. In addition to
this study, data have been collected from various journals also.
ORIGIN OF
SECULARISM IN INDIA
Constitution
of India has adopted a system of political philosophy that all forms of
religious faith and worship are of equal status and has accepted the view that
public education and other matters of public policy should be conducted without
the introduction of religious sentiments. Nehru’s view was “Equal protection by
the state to all religion”. He wanted a secular state to be one that “protects
all religions but does not favour one at the expense of others and does not
itself adopt any religion as the state religion”. Gandhi ji’s view was that
“Religion is a personal affair of each individual, and it must not be mixed
with politics or national affairs. Indian secularism is fundamentally different
from western secularism. It does not focus only on Church-State separation and
the idea of inter-religious equality is crucial to the Indian conception.
Indian constitution has elaborated the principle of secularism in great detail.
It specifies that the state should refrain from either penalizing or favoring
any of its people on religious considerations. In fact, India adopted
secularism to facilitate the promotion of religious tolerance and cultural
co-existence. It is true that the word ‘secular’ did not first occurs either in
article 25 or 26 or in any other article of Preamble of the constitution. By
the forty-second Constitution Amendment Act of 1976, the preamble was amended.
Since then India becomes a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic
republic. The constitution says that, there shall be no ‘state religion’ in
India. The State will neither establish a religion of its own nor confer any
special patronage upon any particular religion. It follows from this that; the
state will not compel any citizen to pay any taxes for the promotion or maintenance
of any particular religion or religious institution (Article 27). No religious
instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly provided by
state funds Article 28(1). According to Article 28, every person is guaranteed
the freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess, practice and propagate
his own religion, subject only (a) to restrictions imposed by the state in the
interests of public order, morality and health, (b) to regulations or
restrictions made by state relating to any economic, financial, political or
other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice, but do
not really appertain to the freedom of conscience, (c) to measures of social
reform and for throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public
character to all classes and sections of Hindus. Subject to above limitations,
a person in India shall have the right not only to entertain any religious
belief but also to practice the observances dictated by such belief (Article
25).
Differences
in Indian Secularism:
·
Indian secularism equally opposed oppression of
Dalits and women within Hinduism. It also opposes the discrimination against
women within Indian Islam or Christianity and the possible threats that a
majority community might pose to the rights of the minority religious
communities.
·
Indian secularism deals not only with religious
freedom of individuals but also with religious freedom of minority communities;
i.e., individual has the right to profess religion of his/her choice. Likewise,
religious minority also have a right to exist and to maintain their own culture
and educational institutions.
·
Indian secularism has made room for and is
compatible with the idea of state supported religious reform. For example,
Indian constitution bans untouchability under article 17. There is also
abolition of child marriage and lifting the taboo on inter-caste marriage
sanctioned by Hinduism.
CHALLENGES OF SECULARISM IN INDIA
Indian is known for its cultural
heterogeneity with respect to language and religion. Hindus constitute the
majority, while the Muslims constitute the largest minority. The animosity
between the Hindus and Muslims was largely the creation of the British rulers.
In order to keep themselves in power, they adopted a policy of ‘divide and
rule’ and tried to promote feelings of hostility among the members of these two
communities. After a long history of independence, at present too, the lack of
proper adjustment between them has often resulted in violent outbursts and
communal riots, which unfortunately becomes a serious challenge to the secular
identity of our country. On the other hand, very often the political parties,
including the national parties, too sometimes, do not allow secularism to take
precedence over their political interests. The electorate in India, guided by
tradition, tends to be responsive to appeals based on caste, religion and
language. By announcing various schemes favoring a particular community,
political parties, openly violate the idea of secularism they claim to stand
for. While distributing tickets during elections, nearly all political parties
take religion of a candidate into consideration. Such a practice in India poses
the greatest threat to secularism.
One of the challenges
deals with education. The State claims a leading role concerning education as a
tool for fostering democracy and shaping the profile of responsible and
proactive citizens. This role has been growing in recent years because both
International organizations and States are aware that education is vital to
overcome some critical aspects of post-modernity and globalization. At the same
time, religions claim to have an important role in education too, both as an
agent promoting education at the service of parents and society, according to
their own perspective and worldview, and as an important subject of the
educational syllabus. These claims may clash between them and cast many questions:
Does the State have the only leading role in education? Is it proper to the
State to have the monopoly of educational issues? Can be religion be part of
the educational syllabus at the different levels? And, how can religion be part
of the syllabus?
CONCLUSION
To
sum up, India has been declared a secular state by its written constitution and
it is every Indians duty to stand by and believe in this declaration. In the
end, secularism begins in the heart of every individual. There should be no
feeling of "otherness" as we all have is a shared history, India
being a traditional society that contains not one, but many traditions owing
their origin in part to the different religions that exist here, has so far
managed to retain the secular character of its polity. It is point to note that
we need proper educational plan too, to slightly redesign our existing
curriculum in the schools and colleges. The text books presenting distorted
historical facts have to be changed and secular ideas will have to be
inculcated in the innocent minds of our young generation. All religions should
get their weightage in the textbooks of history. The culture, traditions and
festivals of any particular religion should not be over-projected. The
sacrifices and hardships of all religious communities and their contribution
towards freedom and development of the country need to be focused in the books
of the history at school and college level. The importance of various culture
and traditions of different religions in the peculiarity of the country should
have to be discussed properly.
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Ø
Majid, A.
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Ø
Talesra,
H. (2002). Sociological Foundation of Education. New Delhi: Kanishka
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Ø
Rizvi, M.
M. A. (2005) Secularism in India: Retrospect and Prospects. The Indian Journal
of Political Science, 66, 4.
Ø
Mahmood Tahir, (2011) “Religion and the Secular
State: Indian Perspective” see, National Report: India.
Ø
Lalu
Dyavappa and Rathod P.B (2014) “Secularism and Indian Constitution: An
Overview” International Multidisplinery Research Journal. Volume2 issue,4
October 2014.
Ø
Ali, M.D
Musa (2015) “Secularism in India: Concepts, Historical Prospects and
Challenges”
